


Seeing Blind

by popculturehoe



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, OTP Feels, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24257026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/popculturehoe/pseuds/popculturehoe
Summary: A song fic based on "Seeing Blind" by Niall Horan and Maren Morris- snapshots of Josh and Donna's relationship.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Seeing Blind

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story I've written in a very long time so please be kind!!

_I have seen, seen it all in paper dreams_

_Watched it unfold on the screen_

_But I never understood_

_I have heard, have heard you speak a million words_

_Now you're talking to me first_

_Never thought you would_

“Donna?” He asked softly, looking me right in the eye. We were in his apartment, eating Chinese and having a few beers after what had been a tough week in the White House, both professionally and personally. Josh had just made a huge blunder on a stimulus bill he was trying to get into Congress, he had had another “attack” and lashed out on everyone in his path, and I had just been dumped by Chris, a guy who I thought I could see a future with but had ended up cheating on me with one of his colleagues. How ironic. “Have you ever been in love?”

I swallowed thickly. Yes, I wanted to scream, yes! With you, you idiot! “Um,” I looked away. “I thought I could’ve been in love with Chris. Eventually.”

“Really?” His eyebrows quirked and then furrowed. “That asshole?”

“He was nice, and sweet,” I explained. “And he cared about me.”

“Until he cheated on you,” Josh mumbled.

“I was in love with Mark,” I said.

“Dr. Freeride?” He almost spit out his beer. “That wasn’t love, Donna.”

“I was with him for almost three years,” I scoffed. “Of course I was in love with him.”

“I’ll say it again, that wasn’t love, Donna. You might have _thought_ it was love, but you were just in love with him.” He took a bite of his food. “There’s a difference between love and extreme infatuation.” I rolled my eyes. “What you had with Dr. Freeride was not real love. He used you to pay his bills and you thought you were gonna marry him because of it.”

“What is love then, Josh?” I asked facetiously. “Since you seem to know so much about it, even though your last two relationships ended in complete and utter disaster.”

“Love is…” he thought for a moment. “Love is wanting to make yourself better, working your ass off every single day to be able to provide the best possible life for that person. Love is making a complete fool of yourself just to make the other person smile, it’s surprising them with their favorite lunch just because you felt like it. Love is dropping everything you’re doing when that person calls saying they’ve had a bad day, and talking to them until they feel better. Love is wanting everything for and with that person with every fiber of your being, even the stuff you used to make fun of your parents for having. Love is sacrificing what you want sometimes, just to make the other person happy, even if you’re miserable, it’s waking up every single day wondering if they’re okay and if they’re thinking about you.”

My heart was in my throat. The way he was looking at me, the way he was speaking so seriously and so candidly, I just knew. I knew he was talking about me. He’d changed a lot in the four years we’d known each other, going from the cocky, arrogant, flippant, sarcastic man I met in the campaign office in New Hampshire to the determined, hard-working, sensitive, still somewhat cocky and sarcastic man sitting next to me. He had brought me presents and food a lot over the years, starting out only because it was a holiday or my birthday or some other special occasion, and then suddenly it turned into him bringing me a turkey sandwich with honey mustard and fries on a regular Wednesday, or bringing me back a chocolate cupcake from the mess because “it was the last one”. I suddenly remembered the time we were walking around on our lunch break and he posed for a picture with one of the men dressed as Abraham Lincoln that are won’t to walk around the city near the national monuments. He hates getting his picture taken, especially by me, because I ask him to take silly pictures all the time, but he did it, and I was doubled over with laughter. Two weeks ago, when my underwear had been delivered in an envelope after my having spoken to Catherine McCarthy and I broke down on my way home, Josh was the one I had called, even though he made fun of me for it earlier in the day. He listened to me ramble on and on, being totally irrational and not making any sense most of the time, not saying a word until I was done.

More importantly, the things he said about sacrificing for the other person, wanting to give the other person a good life, wanting everything with the other person, even the cliche things, waking up every day wondering if they’re thinking about you too, those things were all about me. They had to be. Now he was looking down at his hands, probably at the scar on his right hand from when he smashed the window in his apartment.

“Josh,” I said, taking us both out of our thoughts. “That’s beautiful. I never thought… I never thought you thought about things so… so deeply like that.”

“Yeah,” he trailed off, looking away again. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was having an internal battle with himself. About what, I could only guess. “Now you know.” The air in the room was thick, the tension between us had become palpable. He was looking me right in the eye again, and surprisingly it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable or nervous. I wanted to kiss him so, so badly, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

_When I was young, my heart was always on the run_

_But you make lovin' fun_

_I never knew it could be_

_I see you from a different point of view_

_I feel it's too good to be true_

_I found my missing piece_

“Who are you?” He asked as I put down the phone.

“I’m Donna Moss, your new assistant,” I explained. This was about to blow up in my face.

“I had an old assistant?” He asked incredulously.

“Maybe not,” I said quickly. Oh, God.

“Who are you?” He asked again, looking more and more confused as the conversation went on.

“I-I’m Donna Moss, I came in to volunteer and the woman assigned me to your office.”

“Which woman?” He was asking a lot of questions.

“Betsy,” I told him.

“You mean Margaret?” He said. Here we go…

“I… I’m sorry,” I was beginning to regret even coming here. “I-I wasn’t assigned to you, so much as I saw my chance and I took it.”

“Who are you?” He started walking through the office and I followed him. 

“Do you even have any experience in politics?” 

“I have a degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin,” I lied. I pulled my resume out of the file I was carrying and handed it to him, probably a little too eagerly. “Here’s my resume.”

“Biology with pre-med, sociology, psychology, minors in drama and French, all from the University of Wisconsin,” he read aloud. “Secretary of the UW chapter of the Kappa Kappa Beta sorority… volunteer work with Big Brothers Big Sisters, tutoring… What am I supposed to do with this?”

“I had to drop out of the pre-med program, but I want to go back and get a political science degree,” I explained.

“Your boyfriend’s older than you, isn’t he?” He asked as we came back into his office and sat down.

“Isn’t that kind of a personal question?” I asked. “And besides, what does that have to do with anything?”

“He’s older than you, a law student?”

“Medical student.”

“Let me guess,” he started. “You dropped out of school so you could get a job to pay his bills until he’s done with his residency and then you’d go back. Or so he told you.”

“Yes,” I nodded. He was reading me like a book.

“Why did Dr. Freeride break up with you?” He asked with a smirk.

I laughed dryly. “For your information, _I_ broke up with _him_.”

He sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. I don’t even know why he hadn’t kicked me out of the building yet. “Donna, this is a campaign for the presidency, we can’t just hire anyone off the street. This isn’t the kind of place where you can come to start over and find yourself.”

“Wait,” I said, getting worried again. This was my chance. “I think I could be good at this. I’d be an asset to you and to the campaign. I’m very punctual, I’m _never_ late for anything, I’m trustworthy, I’m extremely organized, I’m very good at research and collecting information-“

“Alright, alright,” he put his hand up. “We’re packing up and going to South Carolina tomorrow, but you have to stay here. There’s no way we can afford to pay another person right now.”

“That’s alright,” I said. “I’ll pay my own way, I’ll sleep on the floor, I’ll do anything I need to do so that I can stay on with you.” I looked him in the eye. “Please. I want this more than anything.”

I knew I was finished from the second I started with the Bartlet campaign. I had fallen in love, both with politics and with Josh. It was pretty difficult not to, given all of thetraveling, living, and working in such close quarters for so many months. Most women only saw his cocky, arrogant, self-assured exterior, but I was one of the few who saw beneath all that. I knew it was just an act, for the most part, because of all the residual trauma from his childhood. Underneath was a sweet, kind, and sensitive man who just needed to find someone who could handle all of his, well, Josh-ness. The rest had been history from there. 

_Oh, my, my, you just took me by surprise_

_And I can't believe my eyes_

_Oh, I must be seeing blind_

_Oh no, now you're too good to be all mine_

_Now I'm looking in your eyes_

_Oh, I must be seeing blind_

A week ago today Josh and I had moved in together. Finally, after all those years of skirting around the subject and denying our feelings for one another, seeing other people, we had given in and taken that next step. It still felt like a dream, even then. It was early morning, and we were still in bed. All was right in my world. Turning over to face him, my breath caught in my throat. Even after all this time, he could still leave me speechless, which honestly was hard to do. The light peeking through the curtains was hitting him just so, giving his face an ethereal glow. His hair was mussed from a night of love making and little sleep. He was still asleep and he looked almost angelic and peaceful. That was just about the only time he looked peaceful and content; normally he was frantic and doing something nonstop. Carefully, I ran a hand through his hair and gently kissed his forehead. He stirred.

“Good morning,” he gave me a lopsided smile, his voice still thick with sleep.

“Good morning,” I ran a hand through his perpetually messy hair again.

“It’s still weird waking up with you here,” he said, stretching.

“A good weird.”

“Exactly,” he agreed. “C’mere.” He stretched out his arm, giving me space to cuddle into his chest. I sighed contentedly.

“I’m so lucky,” I said, burrowing myself into the crook of his neck.

“How’s that?” He asked, looking down at me.

“I get to be with you.” I smiled. “You’re the most incredible, intelligent, caring, handsome, sexiest man I’ve ever known and I finally, actually, get to be with you.”

“I feel the same way.” He kissed my hair.

“I never thought this day would ever come.” My voice strained with emotion. “There were so many times I wanted to tell you everything, but I just couldn’t.”

“I know,” he said softly. “But that’s all in the past. Now we have an amazing future to look forward to.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please forgive me if this is terrible! I'm still trying to get my feet wet with writing again and with writing these characters! Feedback is much appreciated!! :)


End file.
